Lock for cassettes for the construction of drawer cabinets

ABSTRACT

A lock for a cabinet cassette having a drawer comprises a frame structure which carries on one hand a locking bar (47) passing through an opening (50) in a frontal part (23) of drawer, said bar being turnable and projecting from the inside of said frontal part (23), and on the other hand a handle connected to the bar. At least one fixed projection (54) is connected to the frame structure, said projection projecting from the back side of the frontal part, the locking bar (47) being, by turning the handle (48), movable between on one hand a locking turned-up position in which the bar engages behind an upper vertical flange (16) of the frontal frame (6) of the cassette and on the other hand a liberating turned-down position in which the bar is located below the upper side (55) of the projection (54).

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a lock for cassettes of the typeintended for the construction of drawer cabinets, each of whichcassettes accomodates a drawer and comprises on one hand a rectangularfrontal frame from which four walls extend, viz. a bottom wall, two sidewalls and an upper wall, and on the other hand a rear wall to which saidwalls are connected, and which frontal frame has substantiallyvertically positioned flanges in connection with said walls, the drawerin addition to a rear part comprising a bottom part, two side parts anda frontal part, which, along an upper edge, presents a longitudinal,forwardly projecting gripping flange having a hook- or hitchlikecross-sectional profile.

PRIOR ART

A cassette for a drawer cabinet of the sort generally described above ispreviously known from DE-A-3 905 843. In its basic embodiment, thecassette is provided with four male-like members on its underside, inthe form of hook-shaped plates or sheet portions intended to be insertedand locked in cooperating holes in the upper side of a subjacentcassette. The cassettes are commercially available in differentembodiments, in particular in embodiments with different heights,thereby enabling the user to erect drawer cabinets adapted to individualneeds in a quick and flexible way. In the known cassette for drawercabinets, the drawer is normally arranged to be guided by two guiderails which are placed on both sides of the drawer adjacent to on onehand each side wall and on the other hand the bottom wall. According tothis embodiment, the drawer is retained in its position within thecassette by two projecting members which are formed on the underside ofthe bottom part of the drawer, in the vicinity of the frontal part ofthe drawer, in order to be locked behind a lower part of the frontalframe of the cassette as long as the drawer rests upon the cooperatingguide rails. Only when lifting the frontal end of the drawer, so thatthe projecting members pass clear of the lower part of the frontalframe, the drawer can be pulled out to an outer end position. In itsmaximally pulled-out position, the drawer is retained in the cassette byan upper edge portion of the rear part of the drawer that engages behindan upper part comprised in the frontal frame of the cassette. For acomplete removal of the drawer from the cassette, the frontal portion ofthe drawer is turned in an upward direction when the drawer is in theregion of its maximally pulled-out position.

A disadvantage of the above-mentioned cassette is the necessity oflifting the drawer upwardly when it should be pulled out from its innerend position. In order to make such movements possible the opening inthe frontal frame of the cassette has to be palpably wider than thedrawer itself. For this reason the guidance of the drawer will beinaccurate. Among other things there will be a risk that the drawerbounces when it is subjected to shock movements, for instance if thecabinet is mounted in a vehicle or another mobile unit. The prior artarrangement of locking the drawer makes it further impossible tosubsequently mount roller guide rails having an accurate guidance of thedrawer.

Objects and Features of the Invention

The present invention aims at eliminating the abovementioneddisadvantages of the previously known construction and provide a lockwhich is capable of retaining the drawer in its fully pushed-in positionin the cassette without calling for a lifting of the drawer relative tothe cassette when liberating and pulling the same out. Accordingly, aprimary object of the invention is to provide a simple and cheep lockwhich on one hand in its locking position safely retains the drawer inits inserted position in the cassette and on the other hand, by a simplemanipulation, liberates the drawer without calling for a lifting thereofrelative to the cassette. In other words the drawer should be able to bepulled out to an outer end position by a simple linear pulling movement.Another object of the invention is to provide a lock which in a smoothmanner adopts itself to the conventional shape of the drawers of theknown cassettes. Still another object of the invention is to provide alock which has a long useful life even in the case when the cabinetserected by the cassettes are used in tough environments, for instance invehicles in which the drawers of the cabinets are subjected to frequentshock movements during ride.

According to the invention at least the primary object thereof isattained by the features defined in the character rising clause of claim1.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ATTACHED DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a simplified perspective view illustrating a drawer cabinet ina first embodiment, built up of several cassettes containing drawers,

FIG. 2 is an analogous perspective view showing another embodiment ofsuch a drawer cabinet,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an individual cassette with theappurtenant drawer shown in a pushed-in position,

FIG. 4 is a perspective exploded view with the drawer separate from thecassette and with a number of the guide rails shown in connection withthe drawer,

FIG. 5 and 6 are vertical sections of a lock included in the drawer,shown in two different functional positions, and

FIG. 7 is an exploded view showing the lock according to the inventionseparate from the corresponding frontal part of the drawer.

In FIG. 1 reference numeral 1 designates individual cassettes which arestacked into a drawer cabinet which is designated by 2 in its entirety.As may be seen in FIG. 2, the lowermost cassette 1 may be mounted on aspecial bottom frame 3 which is suited for being connected to theunderlying floor or support. The uppermost cassette of the drawercabinet may be covered by a special cover plate 4 or by a longer tablewhich may be supported on two or several drawer cabinets (not shown).

In FIGS. 3 and 4, reference numeral 5 generally designates the drawerthat is included in each cassette 1. The cassette 1 as such is composedof a frontal frame, in its entirety designated 6, which delimits afrontal opening 7 for the reception of drawer 5, and a rear part, in itsentirety designated 8. This rear part comprises two side walls 9, 9' anda rear wall 10. In practice, the rear part 8 may be made of one singlecontinuous, suitably thin-walled piece of sheet-metal which is punchedout of a material and is bent into a U-shape as seen in a cross-sectionas well as in contour. More precisely, by this shape both upperhorizontal flanges 11 and lower, equally horizontal flanges 12 areformed along each one of walls 9, 9' and 10. Said upper flanges 11 aresituated in a common plane and form an upper wall or part of thecassette 1. In an analogous way, also the lower flanges 12 are situatedin a common horizontal plane and form a lower wall or part of thecassette. The free ends of the U-profiles that are formed by side walls9, 9' embrace the frontal frame 6 and are connected to it in a suitablemanner, for instance by spot welding or pressing. Advantageously, alsofrontal frame 6 is made of thin sheet-metal which is given a U-shapedcross-section by punching and bending. In FIG. 4 reference numeral 13designates an upper part, 14 a bottom part and 15,15' vertical sideparts included in said frontal frame. Each one of these four front parts13, 14, 15 and 15' comprises a vertically positioned flange 16. Alongthe lower flanges 12 of the side walls 9,9' sheet-metal plates 17 ofL-formed cross-section are arranged which form fixed guide rails ofstandard character for the drawer 5. Thus, in its standard embodimentdrawer 5 is movable forwardly and backwardly along guide rails 17 whilebeing guided by the vertical flanges 18 of the guide rails.

Further, in FIGS. 3 and 4 may be seen that the bottom side of eachcassette is provided with four male-like projections 19 in the form ofhook-shaped sheet-metal tabs which can be brought into engagement withcorresponding, elongate holes 20 in the upper flanges 11 of a subjacentcassette. When male projections 19 have been brought into engagementwith holes 20 and two connected cassettes have been placed so that theyare located in register with each other in one and the same verticalplane, then the cassettes may be locked relative to each other by alocking member 21 in the form of a thread-like finger the free end ofwhich may be brought into engagement with an analogous hole 22 via anelongate hole in the horizontal web of frontal bottom part 14, hole 22being in the horizontal web of the frontal upper part in each subjacentcassette. Any horizontal dislocation of the cassettes relative to eachother is impeded by locking finger 21, thus safely joining the cassettesand forming a form-stable drawer cabinet.

Referring to FIG. 4, it should be noted that drawer 5 in addition to afrontal part, which is designated 23 in its entirety, comprises a bottompart 24, two side parts 25, 25' and a rear part 26. Together, thesecomponents form a substantially parallelepipedical drawer. It should benoted that the frontal part or frontal plate 23 is larger than the rearpart 26 which is only slightly smaller than the frontal opening 7,whereby frontal part 23 will substantially completely cover therearwardly located frontal frame 6 when the drawer is in its pushed inposition. Moreover, it should be noted that the frontal part 23 of thedrawer has a longitudinal, forwardly projecting gripping flange 27 alongits upper edge, the cross-section of the flange having a hook- orhitch-like profile.

The cassette construction described so far is substantially the same asthe one disclosed in DE-A-3 905 843.

FIG. 4 further illustrates a kit comprising two pairs of guide rails28,28' and 29,29' which are formed as supplements that are mountablewhen required, and which include rollers for accurately guiding thedrawer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

In FIGS. 5 to 7 reference numeral 45 generally designates a lock madeaccording to the invention. This lock comprises a frame structure 46intended to be fastened on the outside of frontal part 23 of the drawer5. A locking bar 47 is hingedly connected to frame structure 46, saidbar in its turn being connected to a handle 48. As may be clearly seenin FIG. 7, a recess or cut-in portion 49 is provided in the centralportion of gripping flange 27. This recess 49 exposes on one hand asubstantially rectangular opening 50 placed near under the upper edge ofthe frontal part 23 and on the other hand two diminutive orifices 51intended for fastening screws 52, which are tightenable in threadedholes in the back or inner side of frame structure 46. A pivot pin 53 isincluded in frame structure 46, this pivot pin being common for thehandle 48 and the locking bar 47. Projections 54 are provided on bothsides of locking bar 47 and pass, like bar 47, through the opening 50and protrude from the backside of frontal part 23. Each of these twoprojections has a substantially plane upper surface 55.

It should be noted that the cross-sectional shape of handle 48substantially corresponds with the hook- or hitch-like cross-sectionalshape of the fixed gripping flange 27 on frontal part 23. The length ofhandle 48 substantially corresponds to the length of recess 49, wherebythe handle will cover or over-bridge recess 49 after mounting on frontalpart 23. In this way, a continuous unit is formed along the upper edgeof the frontal part by the handle and the two fixed portions of grippingflange 27 being separated by recess 49. It may also be noted that endedges 56 of gripping flange 27 are shortened or cut-in so that the twoupper corner portions of frontal part 23 are exposed. In this way it ispossible to place a spot welding element near under the upper cornerareas of the gable part for making spot weld joints between the frontalpart and the two side parts 25,25' of the drawer.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, it should also be noted that at least onespring 57 operates between the frame structure 46, which is fixedlymounted on the gable part, and the hingedly movable locking bar 47and/or handle 48. It should also be noted that locking bar 47 ishook-shaped in that it has a nose 47' pointing upwards from a horizontalportion.

The described lock functions in the following way. In the lockingposition, as shown in FIG. 5, nose 47' of the locking bar 47 engagesbehind the upper, vertical flange 16 on the frontal frame 6 of thecassette. In this state, the handle 48, which is rigidly or stifflyconnected to the locking bar, is turned down into a lower end position.When the lock is to be opened in order to enable a pulling of drawer 5outwardly, then the user grips the handle 48 and turns it upwardlyaround the pivot axis 53 (the turning angle is about 30° to 350°) intothe position shown in FIG. 6. Thereby, locking bar 47 will be turneddown to a position in which the upper portion of nose 47' will belocated at a level beneath the plane upper surfaces 55 of projections54. In this way, the drawer becomes liberated to be pulled out of thecassette, this being effected by a user conferring to handle 48, byhand, a linear, horizontal pulling motion while the handle iscontinuously held in its uplifted position. Thereafter, the drawer maybe pulled out to an outer end position at which the upper edge of rearpart 26 abuts against frontal frame 6.

Also when pushing of the drawer inwardly into the cassette, the userholds handle 48 in its uplifted position, however while applying on thehandle a pressing force by which the drawer is pushed into the cassette.When frontal part 23 has reached contact with frontal frame 6, then thehandle is left hold of and the spring or springs 57 automatically returnlocking bar 47 to its locking position as shown in FIG. 5. Thereby,handle 48 automatically returns to its turned-down position, in which itadjoins to the two fixed portions of gripping flange 27. In practice,the bottom surface 58 that is provided behind nose 47' of the bar in itslocking position may be located at a certain distance below uppersurfaces 55 of projections 54. In this way, the locking bar will onlycome into contact with the backside of flange 16 of the frontal frame,but not with the lower edge of flange 16. This means that the bar 47 assuch is not submitted to life-reducing stress, for instance because ofshock-like movements of the kind that may arise when a drawer cabinet ismounted in a vehicle or another mobile unit. Hence, such shock-likemovements are taken up by projections 54.

In this context it should also be mentioned that projection surfaces 55in practice may lean in a direction frontwards-downwards when seen inthe pushing-in direction, in order to facilitate the insertion of theprojections beneath upper flange 16 of the frontal frame.

The advantages of the lock according to the invention are evident. Thus,the lock in question allows pushing the drawer in and pulling the sameout by a purely linear displacement motion, i.e., without the necessityof lifting the drawer in order to liberate it; this in turn enabling amore precise guiding of the drawer, for instance by means of the guiderails 28, 29 shown in FIG. 4. Furthermore, the lock is simple and cheapand it corresponds well to the shape of the gripping flange 27 ingeneral, thanks to the special form of handle 48. Therefore, an observerand/or user will not experience that the drawer in question constitutesa drastical exception relative to conventional drawers, in spite of thefact that it includes the special lock.

I claim:
 1. A cassette and drawer combination of the type intended forthe construction of drawer cabinets, comprising (a) a cassette whichcomprises on one hand a rectangular frontal frame from which four wallsextend including a bottom wall, two side walls and an upper wall, and onthe other hand a rear wall to which said four walls are connected, andwhich frontal frame has substantially vertically positioned flanges inconnection with said walls, and (b) a drawer adapted and arranged toslide in and out of said cassette and comprising a rear part, a bottompart, two side parts and a frontal part, said frontal part comprising afrontal wall having an upper edge and a longitudinal, forwardlyprojecting gripping flange extending from said upper edge and having ahook-or hitch-shaped cross-sectional profile, a length of said grippingflange comprising a cut-in portion forming a recess provided in at leastone, suitably central part of the gripping flange, a fastening framestructure being fixedly mounted on an outside surface of the frontalwall adjacent said central part of the gripping flange, said framestructure carrying on one hand a turnable locking bar that extendsthrough an opening in the frontal wall, said locking bar projecting intothe drawer from an inside surface of the frontal wall, and on the otherhand a handle connected to the locking bar, the profile shape of thehandle substantially corresponding to the profile of the gripping flangeand the handle substantially covering said recess in the grippingflange, and in that at least one projection is connected to the framestructure, said projection, like the locking bar, extending through theopening into the drawer and projecting from the inside surface of thefrontal wall, the locking bar being pivotally mounted to the framestructure and movable by turning the handle between on one hand alocking, up-turned position in which the locking bar engages an innersurface of an upper, vertically positioned flange of the frontal frameof the cassette and extends above an upper surface of the projection,and on the other hand a liberating, down-turned position in which thebar disengages the inner surface and is positioned beneath the uppersurface of the projection.
 2. The cassette and drawer combinationaccording to claim 1, wherein two projections are connected to saidframe structure, one projection being positioned on each side of thelocking bar.
 3. The cassette and drawer combination according to claim2, wherein the locking bar and the handle is loaded by at least onespring which always tends to urge the locking bar to its lockingposition and against the action of which the locking bar is, by means ofthe handle, turnable to its liberating position under the projection orprojections.
 4. The cassette and drawer combination according to claim2, wherein the locking bar or the handle is loaded by at least onespring which always tends to urge the locking bar to its lockingposition and against the action of which the locking bar is, by means ofthe handle, turnable to its liberating position under the projection orprojections.
 5. The cassette and drawer combination according to claim1, wherein the locking bar and the handle is loaded by at least onespring which always tends to urge the locking bar to its lockingposition and against the action of which the locking bar is, by means ofthe handle, turnable to its liberating position under the projection orprojections.
 6. The cassette and drawer combination of claim 1 whereinsaid locking bar comprises a hooked nose, said hooked nose extendingabove said upper surface and engaging said inner surface of said upper,vertically positioned flange of said frontal frame of said cassette insaid locking, up-turned position, and said hooked nose extending belowsaid upper surface and disengaging said inner surface of said upper,vertically positioned flange in said liberating, down-turned position.7. The cassette and drawer combination of claim 6 wherein said hookednose includes a cut-in segment which includes a first surface engagingsaid inner surface of said upper, vertically positioned flange of saidfrontal frame of said cassette in said locking, up-turned position anddisengaging said inner surface of said upper, vertically positionedflange in said liberating, down-turned position, a second surface whichextends in front of an outer surface of said upper, verticallypositioned flange in said locking, up-turned position and saidliberating, down-turned position, and a bottom surface which extendsfrom said first surface to said second surface, said bottom surface ofsaid cut-in segment being (a) positioned below said upper surface ofsaid projection and (b) out of contact with said inner surface of saidupper, vertically positioned flange in said locking up-turned positionand said liberating, down-turned position.
 8. The cassette and drawercombination according to claim 1, wherein the locking bar or the handleis loaded by at least one spring which always tends to urge the lockingbar to its locking position and against the action of which the lockingbar is, by means of the handle, turnable to its liberating positionunder the projection or projections.